Want to see the inside of a WVO IDI? Pictures now work!

[SolarSteve]

Your motor is looking good. What method of heating/filtering do you use?

On an unrelated note, whenever anyone stumbles across a broken link, click the "report to moderater" button and the mods will get an email that links them right to that post. We can then quickly modify it to work

Thank you, I am in the process of putting it all back together right now and just logged on to check a question I posted about timing.  When I have more time I will give you my filtering/dewatering process and how the system on the car works.

Thank you for the info on how to get the links fixed.

[maxfax]

Lookin very good!!!  Did you happen to have the injectors checked to see how they are holding up???

I ran my first rabbit about 120K on WVO, I know the injectors were crap when I started, finally had them replaced at about 113K into it...    My current Rabbit it just coming on 60K miles of burning WVO and used motor oil.. Been thinking of pulling the injectors to see how they'er doing... They were new when I started so I can better guage how they are holding up...

[vegfuel]

I pulled the head off of my 1.6 N/A last night due to the stripped/broken #2 injector boss.  Here are a few pictures of what the piston tops and head look like after 1 year and 14,000 miles of burning WVO.







This is the crack/stripped boss

Looks like you've got alot of coking. How hot are you getting the oil?

[Smokey Eddy]

Oh boy those pics make me feel like such a ricer with my clean engine... That's how a diesel is supposed to look!

[SolarSteve]

I pulled the head off of my 1.6 N/A last night due to the stripped/broken #2 injector boss.  Here are a few pictures of what the piston tops and head look like after 1 year and 14,000 miles of burning WVO.







This is the crack/stripped boss

Looks like you've got alot of coking. How hot are you getting the oil?

The system switches over to veg when the coolant temp reaches 170F.  I don't have a VO temp gage set up, but the VO temp before the IP with coolant temps at 170F will be about 160-165F.  The coolant temp will continue to rise to 194F set be the T-stat.  At that point the VO will be around 185F or so before the IP, which is plenty hot for an IDI.  I imagine the VO will pick up a little more heat in the IP, but I don't know exactly how much.

I don't think the combustion chamber or the piston tops look coked, thats the exact same way they looked while running D2, before I started running VO.  The outside of the head looks like crap because the crack in the injector boss was allowing VO to leak out making a hell of a mess down the front of the head/block.

[SolarSteve]

Your motor is looking good. What method of heating/filtering do you use?

On an unrelated note, whenever anyone stumbles across a broken link, click the "report to moderater" button and the mods will get an email that links them right to that post. We can then quickly modify it to work

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get back to this, after I got the engine back together I renovated my kitchen and forgot all about this thread!

Here is how I filter.

I collect VO in cubies and I place them in the attic of my pole barn for a minimum of 1 week.  During that time they get pretty warm, mabey 90 to 100F in the summer and a lot of the crud settles to the bottom.  Then I use a drill pump and suck to good oil off of the top.  I stop about 1 inch from the separation line that is visible through the cubie.  I then pour this into my cold upflow still/filter.  The top of the upflow has a 75 micron barrel screen/filter.  The output of the upflow goes through a whole house water filter with a 5 micron element and into an insulated barrel.  When the insulated barrel is 90% full, I turn off the flow of oil from the upflow and plug in the 3500 watt 220 volt hot water heater element in to a 110 outlet reducing the output to about 875 watts, that is installed in the side of the barrel about 6" up from the bottom and heat the oil to 150F.  It take about 4 hours to get it that hot. 

Once it reaches 150F, I unplug the element and let the oil slowly cool and settle for 4 days.  Next, I drain off about 5 gallons and test for water.  It has always passed but if it didn't I would drain off more until it passes.  Finally, I pump the oil from the insulated drum into a drum that is on a pedestal about 6 feet above the floor and it gravity feeds into a whole house water filter with a 2 micron element and then into 275 gallon tote for storage.

Using this system and taking EVERYTHING into consideration, it costs me 20 cents per gallon.  I am in the (very slowly) process of building a centrifuge so I can eliminate the whole house filter as they are the most expensive part of this filter and my cost per gallon will drop to fractions of a cent per gallon.

Also, if you don't know what a cold upflow filter is, just ask, I will explain that too.

[witoke]

Okay then: what's a cold upflow filter?

[topless96]

tell me more about the centerfuge please. I do lots of biodiesel and have tried several types. I am also trying to make algae biofuel and will need a centerfuge for that too.

[SolarSteve]

Okay then: what's a cold upflow filter?

A cold upflow takes dirty "wet" VO and introduces it to the bottom of a drum via a tube attached at the top of the drum.  The dirty oil, heavy with contaiminates stays on the bottom while the clean oil floats to the top.  Particulates and water like to cling together, so the bottom gets dirtier and dirtier and as the contaminates clump it frees clean oil which is lighter and it floats up.

Here is how mine is assembled.

I have a 55 gallon drum on a 18" tall stand.  Threaded into the 2" bung is a 4" long nipple with a pipe welded to the inside of the nipple.  Once the nipple is threaded into the drum with the pipe on the inside, the pipe is about 6" from the bottom.  On the other end of the nipple I threaded the top 1/3 of a 55 gallon drum to act like a large funnel.  Inside the "funnel" is my 75 micron screen.

As I pour oil into the funnel it gets filter to 75 micron and enters the pipe and begins to fill the barrel.  The 3/4" bung has a PVC elbow and is pipe to my WHWF (whole house water filter) and then into the next barrel.  As the 1st drum fills, it pushes air out of the 3/4" bung until the drum is completely filled.  At that point you stop adding oil for atleast 1 week.

After 1 week the oil should have settle fairly well, with the cleanest, driest oil on the top and as you add say 5 gallons of "dirty" oil, it is piped straight to the bottom and pushes the entire column of oil in the drum up, pushing 5 gallons of clean/dry out.  The WHWF element creates resistance to the flow and keeps the flow slow.  The slower the better as it gives the "junk" in the bottom oil that is getting pushed up time to settle to the very bottom.  This will not only separate out food particle/sediment but it will also separate out fats and partially hydrogenated oil (PHO).

I have processed as much as 10 gallons in a 24 hour period, but don't recommend going faster than that as you may start to push dirty out out.  The warmer the oil temp the faster the junk will settle out and the whole system stops once the temp drops below about 40F.  I have installed a drain at the very bottom to drain out all of the sludge once a year.

This system works very well, but it does work slow so you will need to build up a supply of clean oil before you need it.  And unless you build a warm upflow, like I said, it will "freeze" up in the winter.  However, once your oil is clean and dry it will stay liquid below 0F.  I know this because I pumped clean oil with a drill pump at -5F last winter.

I have at this moment a 275 gallon tote filled with clean dry WVO.  I hope to process and fill 2 more 55 gallon drums by freeze up and that will get me through the winter.  I still collect during the winter, I just have to wait for spring to start processing again.

[SolarSteve]

tell me more about the centerfuge please. I do lots of biodiesel and have tried several types. I am also trying to make algae biofuel and will need a centerfuge for that too.

There are many CF manufactures out there, but not all of them seem to work as advertised with VO, I don't know about BD.  Many people use Diesel Crafts CF, but IIRC that CF was designed for large engines like those on locomotives and the crank oil is constanly being CF as the motor is running to reduce down time for oil changes.  So people swear by them, but if read all of the posts it seems they all complain about them as well.

I found on a major Ford forum (I can access it at this computer and don't remember the name but someone else may remember it) a guy taking about a company called Simple Centrifuge.  Theirs is a different design than the Diesel Craft.  This guy was posting about copying the SC and building it himself.  In the actual post he got someone from SC to give specs and pictures of the actual bowl that they sell!  The SC kit comes with the centrifuge bowl, a motor and everything you need to get it up and running but it cost $1000.

So I just took down all of the info from the site and I know someone at a machine shop who says he can build the bowl.  I will then fabricate everything else and use an electric motor that I have on hand.  The 1st motor I have is a 1/4 HP 3450 RPM which should work well but I also have a Skil Saw motor that will spin at 5400 RPM.  I don't know if the Skil Saw motor has the HP to get it going but the faster the better and I may just spin it by hand or rope to get it started!

I don't know exactly what you want to talk about with CF's, so if you want more, just ask more specific questions.

[diesel smoke]

Here's a pretty good idea for a centrifuge. 

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/159605551/m/1681017591

Start reading. A whole 18 pages worth. 

[Mark(The Miser)UK]

I pulled the head off of my 1.6 N/A last night due to the stripped/broken #2 injector boss.  Here are a few pictures of what the piston tops and head look like after 1 year and 14,000 miles of burning WVO.

Looks like you've got alot of coking. How hot are you getting the oil?

I think you are confusing decoking with degreasing